NHLPA Exec Dir Ted Saskin met with Lightning players Monday night in Philadelphia
as part of his on-going player meetings concerning the state of the union, according
to Tom Jones of the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES. Lightning C and player rep Tim Taylor
said, “It was a very positive meeting. We had a lot of guys with a lot of questions
and I think he gave us the answers we were looking for.” Taylor said of the controversy
surrounding Saskin’s hire as Exec Dir, “When [former NHLPA Player Relations Dir]
Steve Larmer compares it to the [Alan] Eagleson days, those are very harsh words.”
Taylor believes the lawsuit filed with the NLRB against Saskin by a group of 27
players is “going to get squashed pretty quickly.” Lightning LW Dave Andreychuk,
who was in the NHL when Eagleson was NHLPA Exec Dir, said that Saskin “has his
full support.” Andreychuk: “I do trust him” (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 11/23).

MITCHELL TO TESTIFY: A source familiar with the NLRB said that Wild D Willie
Mitchell is “one of three players that it plans to call to testify about the alleged
shenanigans at the union.” Mitchell said that he has been “frustrated in attempts
to get answers from Saskin over the past two months.” Mitchell: “I’ve sent Ted
emails and he won’t answer them; he just left me a message saying he’d talk to
me at a players meeting in December” (Rick Westhead, TORONTO STAR, 11/23).

Annika Sorenstam and other LPGA players “have talked to tour officials about the
size of the winner’s check” at the season-ending “LPGA Playoffs at the ADT” beginning
next year, as they are concerned it “could skew the money list,” according to
Doug Ferguson of the AP. The $1M first-place prize is the largest in women’s golf
and nearly doubles the $560,000 the winner of the U.S. Women’s Open receives.
LPGA player Lorie Kane: “The money list is important. I don’t think somebody should
come out and win $1[M] and pass someone who’s had an awesome year.” Sorenstam
added, “The first prize is too much money. I don’t mind the first prize being
$1[M], but I recommended that maybe $500,000 would count on the money list, and
give the player a $500,000 bonus.” Ferguson noted Sorenstam “has incentives built
into her endorsement contracts” that reward her for topping the money list. LPGA
VP/Tournament Business Affairs Rob Neal said that officials “would be talking
during the offseason about whether to apply only part of the $1[M] toward the
money list” (AP, 11/22). More Sorenstam: “The money list means a lot. The
fans look at the money list, and that’s kind of our (world) ranking” (ORLANDO
SENTINEL, 11/23).